1. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates to generating action items based on content of a conversation, such as a meeting or conference call.
2. Technical Background
Today, a huge percentage of our work day is consumed by meetings and conversations, but there are very few controls put in place to capture and track actions agreed to in such events. Modern business meetings and conferences typically include the creation of action items, such as tasks, appointments, deliverables, or follow-up items for various participants in the meeting or other persons associated with the content of the meeting. Presently, action items are maintained manually by the individuals tasked with the action items, and the responsibility of tracking these action items to completion typically falls on the responsible individual as well. However, tracking these action items in a systematic and centralized manner can be difficult. Conference call providers generally provide features and functionality while the meeting is in progress, but often provide little follow up features or functionality after the meeting has ended. This can result in businesses taking on unnecessary expense, risk of non-completed actions, and decreased employee productivity.
In the past, many participants in a meeting had to rely on static text. For example, participants relied on static text contained in an email or other communication to assign and track an action item's progress. Attempts have previously been made to centrally store a number of action items through server-based solutions such as Wiki sites, and through software products such as Microsoft Outlook® and Avaya® Aura Conferencing©. However, these solutions generally require manual entry of individual action items, which decreases efficiency and accuracy.
None of these solutions solves the problem of capturing action items created during a meeting, conference, or other conversation. Accordingly, there exists a need for an automated system for generating and tracking action items created during a meeting.